Coach Bueltel's second year as head coach took Hayden to their highest finish in
the Class A State tournament. Loren Bartley was a great rebounder and scorer for
this team and he scored more free throws in one season (173) than anyone in
Hayden history. The team played three more games than the maximum allowed
present day teams. The playoff system involved district play before the Regional
tournament. The top two teams from the districts would advance. Not until 1972
did a
Hayden team finish higher than this squad. This team was known for a high
scoring offense - 89 points against Immaculata was a record at the time.

Bueltel would comment in 1971 that he regretted a decision he made in the
semi-final against Pratt. He called a time-out with 10 seconds left and stressed
getting the ball into Loren Bartley for the last shot. He figured he
would either score a field goal , get fouled or get the three point play. As it
turned out his other players might have been more open for a shot than Bartley.
Loren's shot failed with 5 seconds left. Hayden rebounded the next day to win
the third place game against Russell.

Joe McDonnell, starting guard in 1954, recently noted some stories about this
basketball season with friends and members of his family. "To Salina and
Beyond: A Remembrance" is Joe's contribution to a family history his nephew
is compiling.

Joe relates details of the action between Hayden and rivals of that era. He
describes Holton players as "big, rawboned & rugged players."
(Some things never change.) Joe says he got locked up with one of the Holton
boys and after a technical was assessed to the Holton player, he calmly sank a
free throw with the Holton crowd protesting loudly.

He describes how Hayden fell apart when Ken Bueltel abandoned his team to get
married to Gisele Charest. "Couldn't (Coach) have waited until after the
season to get married ?", he remembers asking his team mates. After the
honeymoon the Hayden boys reeled off thirteen straight victories.

He notes that Haskell of Lawrence was one of the most athletic and well
conditioned teams of the era. They were famous for a full court zone press that
wore down opponents in the old Jayhawk League. He describes how Coach Bueltel
prepared his team to defeat this defense and beat them twice on the way to the
Jayhawk crown. Haskell would defeat Hayden in the finals of the district
tourney, but both teams were allowed to proceed to the Regional tournament.
Hayden defeated Haskell in the regional that qualified the Bueltel crew for the
state tourney held at Salina High School.

Joe confirms that Coach Bueltel had alternate plans proposed for that fateful
final shot against Pratt. One scenario had the hot shooting guard (none other
than Joe McDonnell !) fire the shot from outside. Joe assures readers that the
Bartley option made the most sense at the time and the ball rolled 3/4 around
the rim before falling off to a Pratt player. He also confirms that Loren was
fouled but the officials did not see it that way. There was some irony involved
when Hayden finally won a state championship in 1982. Hayden was the victor over
the Pratt Greenbacks and the starting guard for the Wildcats was the son of
reserve Bob Turgeon of that '54
team.